28/03/2026
Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.
by Frans Stiene.
The Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is an association that reportedly started in 1922 and still exists today. However….
“Dento Reiki as it was practiced by members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai before Usui sensei’s death drastically changed after his passing and even more after the end of World War II.” – Hiroshi Doi.
Hiroshi Doi, and also other members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai to whom I have spoken since 2001, all have said the same thing: many things have changed in this association over the years. These days the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai focuses mainly on the hands on healing element; however, Mikao Usui also taught the way to satori, remembering our inner great bright light, that we are Reiki.
“So the old Gakkai members said that Usui Sensei taught the way to Satori very intensely to those who had achieved a certain level.” – Hiroshi Doi.
We can also see this concept of satori being pointed out by one of Mikao Usui’s students, Kaji Tomita, in 1933.
“Its essence is seeking the harmony of body and mind. When engaged in self-cultivation by doing seiza, forgetting the “self” is of utmost importance. When it comes to self-cultivation, one must discard all thoughts…” – Reiki and the Benevolent Art of Healing by Tomita Kaiji (Published in 1933)
We have to forget the “self” – satori.
“This is because the source of reiki, the agent of this therapy, must be sought in the proper heart and mind. The power to treat disease is thus a by product of becoming a better person. The healing of diseases with this therapy is secondary.” – Tomita Kaij, Reiki and the Benevolent Art of Healing.
As Mikao Usui did, Tomita Kaji states that the healing of diseases in this therapy is secondary, we must first work with the mind, forgetting the “self,” I, me mine.
“The mind should be healed first and the body second, so that one can tread the right path of humanity. When the mind is healthy and its path of oneness has been adjusted, then the body will regain its strength itself.” – Mikao Usui, in the booklet Shin-Shin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryoho Kokai Denju Setsumei.
Of course we can see the same pointed out by Mikao Usui. Thus if we only focus on the concept of hands on healing we only work with a very small element of Mikao Usui’s teachings.
“Empty your mind and become selfless.” – Reiki Ryoho no Shihori, a booklet handed out by the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.
Of course we can still see traces of this forgetting the “self” within old booklets about the system of Reiki in Japan.
But there is more….
“One of my students is an Aikido master, and through his colleague, I got my hands on certain documents that used to belong to a person who had studied Reiki under Usui sensei… Dento Reiki [Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai] does not have Dai Ko Myo symbol. According to the record I got on my own; Usui Sensei called Shinpi-den student into his room one by one, saying, “You have been working on developing your pipe of Reiki since you had it opened until you learned Oku-den Koki. But that is not enough, as you were chosen to be a Shinpi-den practitioner. From now on you must devote yourself to give the Light to as many people as possible.” And he showed a piece of paper with three Kanji characters of Dai, Ko and Myo on it, which indicated the basic consciousness of Shinpi-den practitioner. Both Koyama sensei and other Shihans [of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai] told me they did not know the above. Because this information came from a person who provided me many important documents and information.” – Hirsohi Doi.
Within the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai they do not teach or show the dai komyo and yet there are students, like Hayashi and the person Hiroshi Doi is talking about, who were taught the dai komyo by Mikao Usui.
This of course makes perfect sense, as Mikao Usui was teaching his students according to their spiritual development.
“Usui Sensei had no standard curriculum, and the length of time of the training depended on the spiritual progress of each student. It is said that he gave one-on-one lectures mainly on the right mental attitude needed for spiritual advancement based on his own experience.” – Hiroshi Doi.
Plus, what was Mikao Usui teaching before 1922?
In an article written in 1928, Shou Matsui, a student of Chujiro Hayashi, who is talking about Churijo Hayashi and Mikao Usui in this article, says, “It has been more than a decade since Reiki Ryoho was founded.” This points out that Mikao Usui was already teaching in 1918, 4 years before the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai was formed. So it is highly possible that Mikao Usui was teaching the way to satori, spiritual practices other then hands on healing and the dai komyo before 1922. This of course also links in with what Mrs Takata rediscovered in Japan.
“When John studied with Takata, he made over 20 audio tapes of her lectures and classes. On one of the tapes she discusses travelling to Japan in order to teach her approach to Reiki. While there, she met some Japanese citizens who were actively practicing and preserving Reiki as they understood it in Japan. Takata regarded their approach as entirely valid, but inappropriate for the West. It was highly complex, required years of training and was closely intertwined with religious practices. She felt these factors would deter students in the West and hobble the spread of Reiki through the world at a time when, in her view, it was urgently needed.” – Hand to Hand by John Harvey Gray.
I do not believe that Mrs Takata is talking about practitioners from the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, who focus more on hands on healing. Maybe not at that time but definitely now, hands on healing is more their focus. So I think Mrs Takata was talking about students who Mikao Usui trained outside of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, maybe even before 1922. Why? Because the system of Reiki was highly complex, required years of training and was closely intertwined with religious practices. However, let me be clear: one way is not better than the other. But to really rediscover Mikao Usui’s teachings, we definitely have to go much deeper than just hands on healing on others. This is, of course, also pointed out within the Reiki precepts, the symbols and mantras, the reiju and the meditation practices.
Here is a quick example. The symbol/mantra hon sha ze sho nen translates to, my original nature is right mind. It doesn’t point to hands on healing but to a specific state of mind, the mind of satori, our original nature. Joshin kokyu ho translates as pure mind with each breath; again it doesn’t point to hands on healing but to the pure mind of satori. The Reiki precepts are a clear description of our pure mind, in this state of pure mind there is no anger and worry, just gratefulness and pure compassion, and that state of pure mind we have to remember dilligently during all we do today.
“This is because, while other forms of Reiki Ryoho consisted merely of hands-on healing, Usui Reiki Ryoho was never intended solely as a healing method.” – Hiroshi Doi.
Rather, as Hiroshi Doi suggests, Usui Reiki Ryoho was intended as a practice to help us remember our ure mind, find harmony between body and mind, and remember that there is no separation between our “self” and the universe. In this way, with the practices of Usui Reiki Ryoho, we can remember our true self. And it is from this remembering that true hands on healing takes place.
